System for transmitting graphic illustrations



April 20, 1926. 1,581,937

LE ROY J. LEISHMAN SYSTEM FOR TRANSMTTTING GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS Filed March 27, 1919 y 1,581,931 PATENT OFFICE.

LE BOY J. LEIBHMAN, F OGDEN, UTAH.

SYSTEM FOR TRANBMITTING `GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS.

Application tiled latch 27, 1919. Serial No. 285,570.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I,` La ROY J. LEISHMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ogden, in the county of \Vcber and State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Systems for Transmitting Graphic Illustrations; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanymg drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to a system for sending graphic illustrations over considerable distances, by means of the telegraph or telephone, for example, in such manner that the code sent would not be cipher-able to any one except a party to the system, but the proper recelver can quickly and accurately construct the graphic representation.

The object of the present invention is to simplify and cheapen the cost of `sending such cryptic messages and particularly to improve the system of transmitting half tone pictures by telegraph.

The underlying principle of this invention is that any straight line is defined by the two extreme points and any curved line is determined by three or more points, the number of such points being dependent upon the degree and the irregularity of such curve. The system here stated is applicable to the transmission of half-tone pictures by coding the points in the boundary of each of the various degrees of shade and then denoting the shade contained within such boundary, and is also applicable to the transmission of line-pictures, the code words not only giving the direction of the line but its degree of blackness, so that any line could be transmitted, for example, a signature could be correctly given by telegraph shaded exactly as the original. The system, however, is intended primarily for newspaper workparticularly for use in permitting a newspaper to publish illustrations of current events in distant countries.

In the drawings,-

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a drawing board and T-square ready to receive a code picture.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of part of the scales on the drawing board.

Fig. 3 is a picture as received by the code stem.

In all of the systems of code transmission of illustrations Wit-h which 1 am mliar,

the illustration and also the receiving sheet have been ruled in fine lines separated at intervals by lines of either different color or slightly greater width. The use of such llned paper is extremely trying on the eyes and it is almost impossible to prevent errors after a few minutes work with such paper, due to the tiring of the optic nerve by the parallel lines, causing a blurred impression to be registered by such nerve. In my system I secure the picture 4 to be transmitted to a drawinor board 5 which is divided into a plurality ota spaces or zones 6, in the present case, eighteen, and these zones are then subdivided into an equal number of subzones 7, these sub-zones corresponding in distance apart with the lines of the ruled p aper just described. A T-square 8 is rov1ded co-operating with the zone maring of the drawing board and preferably divided and subdivided in exactly the same way and for convenience is provided with a eut-out notch 9 on a line with the subdivision markings on the drawing board.

The markings on the drawing board give the ordinate of any point on the drawing board and 'the markings on the T-square give the abscissa for such point, the base line from which abscissas are taken bein the uppermost mark on the T-square, an the base line for ordinates being the left hand extreme of the markings. The drawing may be placed anywhere at will on the drawing board and the location of any point on the drawing may then be determined by its abscissa and ordinate as given by the board and T-square, and these characteristics of such points are transmitted by telegraph to the receiving station which is provided with a drawing board and T-square similarly marked, though not necessarily having the same dimension as the unit for sub-zone length, the latter, as will be readily understood, being immaterial for the correct transmission of any illustration, provided only that the sub-divisions of the board and of T-square of either set shall be of similar length and that there be an equal number of subdivisions in the zones o the two sets, or that there shall be the same relation between the board and T-square units in the two sets, preferably the former, however, which corresponds exactly to the squares formed by the parallel lines of the ruled paper. It will be readily under- :Stood that the base line may be placed on the board at the top edge so as to be horizontal while the T-square sliding along this top edge will be vertical. .There is no diiculty in doing this since the scales are exactly the saine size and either scale will fit in either place.

In coding the position of a point the abscissa is always given first-I and this -will always consist in two letters, the rst letter being the zone and the second the sub-zone. No abscissa. will ever have more or less than two letters to denote the same, as will be apparent from Fig. 1. In the same manner the ordinate is given by two letters, the first being the zone and the second the sub-zone, so that every oint ,within the limit of the drawing boar can be denoted by four letters, the 'first two always referring to the drawing board and the second two to the T-s nare.

T ie maximum number of letters permitted in a code word by any of the telegraph companies at a minimum charge 1s at least ve, and since we need but four letters to denote the position of any point, we may utilize the remaining letter to denote the character of the line or its color; or, by the resent method, both, the system being as fo lows:

There are five colors necessary to transmit in newspaper half-tone illustrations, namely, white, light gray, gray or medium, dark gray, and black, and there are five different characters of lines, as follows: The beginning or end of a curve; the smooth part of a curve; a cusp or place at which a line suddenly changes direction; the beginning or end of a straight line, and repetition. By combining these two sets of five requirements each, we can code any possible combination by having the first five letters of the alphabet refer to the five different characters of line denoting white, the first color; the five next letters of the alphabet to denote the same five characteristics of line, but in this case denotin the second color, light gray; the next five etters denoting gray, etc. In this Way, if the fifth letter of any code word were S, it would def note the beginning or end of a straight line of dark gray color, in a half tone code, meaning that this straight line was part of the boundary. which enclosed-a dark gray shade. Similarly, U and A denote the beginning or end of a curved line of dark gray or white respectively.

The fifth letter of each color denotes the continuation of the same character of line. This materially saves words and costs in telegraphing a line that is continuously repeated, such construction being common in border lines, the edge of a skirt, or any other place where a curve is continuously repeated. The tive line characteristics and the five colors require together twenty-tive' letters,

thus leaving the single letter Z unused, which letter I proposeto use to denote an isolated dot.

As before mentioned, I divide the board and T-square into eighteen zones and each zone into eighteen subzones, the reason for this being that the telegra hic characters for the letters c, o, r, y and z are each spaced iii the Morse system, which is the commonly used system in the United States, and consequently these letters are very apt to be confused. It is also found from practical experience that the letters h and p are frequently telegraphed incorrectly and that the letters u and n are frequently extremely ditlicnlt to read when written by hand. Consequently, I

have eliminated one of the last mentioned letters n, leaving the u in the system and have eliminated all the other letters mentioned, thus leaving eighteen letters which can be telegraphed with but little danger of error in transmission, and which provide over a hundred thousand squares' on the board, which is ample for the transmission of any ordinary picture.

AErrors in transmission are not only avoided by the elimination of the char'- acters which give most frequent trouble, but also by the fact that every code word sent contains five letters, never more and never less, an error in transmission therefore quickly showing up, the detection of error being greatly assisted by the fact that each of the five letters of every word denotes a definite thing; for example, the third letter of every code word denotes the zone on the T-square, and never denotes anything else, and similarly, the fifth or last letter of each' code word denotes the character of line and its color, in line work, and thecharacter4 of the line and the enclosed color in half-tone work.

What is claimed is 1. The method of transmitting a picture which consists in dividing the lctures into irregular areas of uniform sha e, determining code words to denote the boundaries of such areas and the shade enclosed by each of such boundaries and in sending such code words.

2. The method of transmitting a picture which consists in dividing the picture into areas of uniform shade, selecting prominent points on the boundary lines of each area in sufficient number to reproduce said lines, determining the coordinates of each point so selected, and sending a message giving such` coordinates.

, 3. The method of describing a picture to enable it to be reconstructed at a 'distant point which consists in dividing the picture into irregular areas of arbitrarily chosen shades,

points on the boundary lines of each area denoting in sequence prominent by words, and in telegraphing such Words.

4. The method of describing a picture to enable it to be reconstructed at a distant point which consists in dividing the picture into areas of arbitrarily chosen shades of color, denoting prominent points on the boundary lines of said areas by Words; each of such Words being of the same number of letters and the corresponding letters of each word denoting the same characteristics of the points transmitted, whereby errors may be readily detected and corrected.

5. The system of reproducing a picture at a distance which consists in securing the picture in fixed relation to a straight edge which carries a plurality of graduations, dividing the icture into arbitrarily chosen areas of sha e, selecting prominent oints on each area boundary line, drawlng a graduated T-square along said straight edge until it touches in turn each point so selected, forming code words each of the same number of letters which indicate in order the nearest graduation on'the T-square to said point, the graduation on said straight edge touched by said T-square when it is touching said point, and a characteristic of a portion of said area boundary line which includes said point and also the color enclosed by the boundary; reproducing the selected oints in the same relative positions, filling 1n the areas with the denoted color, blending the areas where required to produce an artistic image, and in reproducing the soerected image.

6. The method of erecting a picture from telegraphic information consisting of Words denoting boundary areas and shade inclosed which consists in erecting the boundary lines, filling in the several areas with the denoted shade, blending the areas Where requiredV to produce an artistic image and in reproducing the so-erected image.

1 LE ROY J. LEISHMAN. 

